 Okay, thanks guys, thank you for your patience one more time. I appreciate it. Let's pray and we can start it. Father, we love you, we thank you. Lord, for your faithfulness, for your mercy and your strength. We thank you for this new day, Jesus, we remember everything that you've done for us. We bless you, we praise the name of Jesus. Amen. Okay, all right, so we started off this course on Introduction to Youth Ministry last week. In the last classes we saw who are the youth, how the world defines young people and how they define or describe youth and some of the labels that's attached to in defining the young people. And in the first chapter we saw that the youth are literally like the treasure of a nation. And in the context of India, India seems to be one of the youngest nation in the world. Just to say that the average age and the population of young people are more in India than any other country. It used to be number one, I will have to check the recent study on it. If India is still the youngest country, but that's where it is. And the challenges arises among other nations when there are no young people or the youth to take over the leadership. And so that's another thing we saw, isn't it? The importance of youth and youth ministry in general is, why is it important? Most of you unanimously said that they are the next generation leaders in a way that they are taking, the older generation is passing on the baton to the younger generation, so to speak. They are the future of a country, they are the future of the nation, etc. And all of that is what we saw. Moving on to chapter two, we saw that it's important to have a vision for youth ministry. It's important to have vision for life and for any ministry in general. But in context of youth ministry, we see that it is very important and crucial to have a vision of what we want to achieve, what we want to do. Where do we want to go? Because if you don't have a vision, it becomes very difficult to quantify our goals, our progress. If you don't have a goal, if you don't have a vision, how are you going to follow your progress or keep a record or a track of your progress? Only if you've set a vision saying, okay, last year or last month we were here, this month we've grown. And so we're going to continue to grow. And because you can track that progress simply because you have a goal, you have a vision. You know that you want to go from here to there. And if you can't see this there, you might be going up, you might be coming down, but you will not have any way of quantifying the progress. So I think vision kind of helps us in keeping a track of our growth, our progress, or even not the happy days, if I may say. So that's what we learned in the last class. And in today's session, I want to continue to go in that spectrum of understanding our audience or identifying our audience. Because once again, if you remember, when I took over the youth ministry at APC, I shared the five killers, so to speak, that was very important. You get from the two verses, which were Matthew 22 and Matthew 28. The first and the second one is, I love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, which can be translated as worship. And then love your neighbor as yourself, which calls for ministry. And then moving into the Great Commission, baptizing them, teaching them to obey. You see there's evangelism, discipleship and fellowship. Now what we have to remember or what I had to remember is it was very easy for me to go in a tangent and try to address all of those five purposes in one program. It was very tempting. Okay, you know, we're going to have this youth meeting every Sunday. We're going to have this combined youth meeting where all the five locations of APC youth are going to come and we call it the pit stop. You know, what are we going to talk about? How do I decide on which purposes do I need to teach on and work on? Because everything seems very important. Right, but so it was very crucial for me to understand and realize at very soon, a very early stage that one program can't effectively fulfill all five purposes. One youth meeting cannot, maybe you can speak, but I'm talking about the efficiency and the productivity or the effectiveness of what is being shared. Right, so in one program, if I speak about evangelism, worship, fellowship, discipleship or ministry, I would have just shared a bunch of data or information without any much impact. So we have to come to a realization and learn that one program can't effectively fulfill all the five purposes. And that is why the next thing is we need to identify our target audience. Who are we trying to target with this program? Who are we trying to target in this evening's youth ministry? What do I want to impress on the young people's heart tonight or this morning? You know, and so we have to make a decision and in doing so, you are identifying who this audience are. Right, so we know that one program can't effectively target all the youth. I hope we are in agreement with that. Simply because, you know, I've just mentioned a few lists of types of youth that might come to a youth meeting. Right, there could be a non-Christian in your audience. Right, who has, who's just there because a friend brought them along, invited them to this youth meeting. The first time to church, they are non-Christian. They are an unbeliever. They are of a different faith or a different worldview, atheist, agnostic, etc. And then there could be a new Christian who just given their life like a week ago or a month ago, two months ago, three months ago. They are a new Christian. They are still exploring what they've decided to follow. Right, they've just given their lives to Jesus. They don't know what a baptism is or the importance of that or the Holy Spirit baptism and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, etc. They are very new. And then, you know, there are young people who are just forced to attend the youth meeting by their parents. There might be young people who know a great deal about the Bible. There's the growing student. There's a spiritual leader and the list can go on. This is just some of the list, right? And now we can actually sit and make a very practical and realistic list and it will be a pretty long one and not just this five points. Right, so there's the non-Christian. There's the new Christian. There are those who know a great deal about the Bible. And then there's the growing student. There's a spiritual leader who's very mature in their spirituality in their walk with God. And they serve in the core team of the youth ministry. Right, so there are all these different people, audiences that you will be coming across. Who are you going to serve? Right, and that's why it's like super crucial for us to target our audience and identify them so that you can effectively design or plan a program. For them. Right, so are you all with me? Okay, all right. Okay, so let's just discuss about this a little bit. But before I could go any further, do you mind sharing what is your view and your perspective and the importance of identifying your audience? Yeah, anyone feel free to just share your view. There's no right or wrong answer. Share your view on the importance of identifying your audience and why is it important? And if you have tried to do that in your walk as a leader or in ministry or in life, how has that helped you? Any practical examples that you want to share? Faster. The reason why identifying one's audience is very important. It has got a number of factors, but let me mention a few according to my own medley of bringer. Number one is it will determine your curriculum. Once you realize who you're going to talk to, it will tentatively determine what you're going to talk to. It's not that it will determine the curriculum. It will determine the scope because if there are new converts, it's true that the curriculum will always be the Christ, but the scope will usually vary depending on their maturity into the Christ. Number two can be the methodology. Methodology will change, will vary according to your goals and objectives of the trainings or the kind of people who are taking up your meal. At times my mom would say that once you know your visitors, you will always determine how you're going to cook them, whatever you're going to add in. Can I post from there for a minute now? Thank you, Colin. That is a spot on. It's very simple to understand and as you mentioned, if you know who you're hosting, you know what to cook for. That is a very simple way of identifying and the importance of knowing your audience. It will have an impact on your curriculum or your content and the scope of improving, as you mentioned, and also your methods and how you want to deliver that content. Fantastic. What else, guys? I see Divya said that we need to identify the audience of the group so that we can address those specific needs. Absolutely. Yes. While some of you are thinking of sharing, I recently, I've heard a lot of revival stories and Jesus' movement is one of those revival stories that I've heard a lot. In the late 60s and the early 70s, I'm not sure if you've heard of the Jesus' movement or the Jesus' revolution that began in California in a church called Calvary Chapel by Chuck Smith Pastor. I've heard a lot of people talk about it and why am I sharing this is because recently, okay, so this is a movie released on Netflix called Jesus' Revolution. I was watching that and I saw how it was originally, it was among this Jesus' movement or this revolution or this revival was among the drug addicts being saved. And they were known as the hippies from the California state, from the West Coast basically. And how a lot of the churches were very hesitant to bring them into their church because one, they identify the audience but they were very scared of their audience. They were like, okay, how do we let them in because they dress a certain way, they speak a certain way, their language is very different, their style of music is so different. And then eventually it took up a man of God to kind of take that step of faith and risk and allow them and everything changes after that in the way that the content will remain the same in terms that gospel is the gospel. But the methods in the way that this began to preach the gospel and the good news to these drug addicts, to those who are searching for truth, changed drastically. And so I think it was very inspiring. Yeah, sorry, I jumped in. Anybody else wants to share your thoughts on identifying the audience, your own personal experience? Father Moe Pastor? Yes. Just to jump in. Father Moe, I think we'll also determine the time flame. For instance, if I'm dealing with the youth who are in between 15 to 20 or between 18 to 20, the time flame I will need to cover that content depending on their matrilite and Christ might vary with others who are in their late age, that is 23, maybe 25. So time will vary depending on my on my curriculum. So a curriculum, all the goals and visions of my training, all my teaching, all my curriculum is very important. Thank you. Yeah, thank you, Collins. Yeah, the time frame. Yeah. Good. Okay. Anybody else? Yes, Divya. Yeah, yeah, Pastor, I think the Children's Ministry, whatever we were learning was dependent on the age groups, because we were learning about different learning styles, we're learning about different age groups and their specific needs. And so how we could cater to those specific learning styles and specific needs. So I feel it's the same in the case of youth as well, especially with children, their attention span is small. So how the methodology we use to describe the concepts may differ as per the age groups. That's why we would have different age groups categorized into different classes and such things. Okay, even among youth, it may not be the gradient may not be that visible. But of course, there should be a classification made based on their learning styles and needs, the stages of life that they are in and such things. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, thank you. Thank you for elaborating on that. So, okay, so we have called us to share another one that says, okay, mode of assessment and evaluation of content learned is also a factor in the historical back group of my group is also important. Yeah, historical back group of your group is also important. Correct. So, you know, age is not always necessarily the factor that we have to take into consideration. It is important that we take agent as a factor into consideration. But let's say, for example, on the point that Collins has mentioned a historical back group of a group or historical seems like a slightly heavy word, let's just say the background force and say the age group remains the same. For example, the youth in say an APC, for example, between 1821 versus the same age group of people in like a Methodist church or a more traditional church or a young people from another traditional denomination like CSI or Lutherans and whatnot. Like we've ministered in, you know, both the places but you can see that how young people are kind of reserved in in a more traditional setting, same age group, but the way they present or engage is more very is very different than how a young people from a young person from a slightly more charismatic or if I should say charismatic still seems like a very strong word charismatic or slightly radical, you know, church would respond to the content, etc. Right. And I think yeah, we've established point enough to say that understanding or identifying your audience is extremely crucial right because it's safe to assume that as a youth pastor that your target audience could be teenagers or young adults or youth, like, you know, between 21 and 25. But what if that was wrong? Right. Yeah, as a youth pastor, you should reach, you know, the teenagers, the youth and the young girls, but sometimes we need to be a little bit more specific. Right. Because when the teenagers in your community are similar to the ones in in your, I'm talking about your community. Right. You say, let's say you are the youth pastor, like Jeff, you know, whoever. So that could be very similar, but then they will still have different differences. Right. So if you don't know your target audience, these are these are my experiences. Okay. If you don't know your target audience, one, you will have high turnover, but there will be lack of engagement and ineffective ministry. These are just my observations. Okay. If you don't know your target audience, you there are chances that you will have high turnover. But eventually, because lack of engagement in there will be the ministry in itself will be very ineffective because teenagers won't feel connected because they don't know you, you don't know them. I'm talking about the consequences of not knowing your audience. Okay. Simply because they will struggle to find the relevancy behind what you are sharing with them. Right. One of the most important things what a young people wants to feel or how they want to feel is that they want to feel belonged. Right. If they don't get what you're saying, they will switch off. Right. And you know, Pastor Ashish shared this recently is there's a major D church that is happening in the North American continent. And I believe is because and what the study says that then in the in the huge percentage of them are not able to connect with what's being shared. So knowing your target audience. So knowing your target audience will help you create programs that will help you reach your vision for the next generation. You see how it comes back to the vision. Right. If you know your target audience, it will help you create a program event plan. It helps you become very intentional so that you can reach your vision for the next generation. Okay. And in another way, how you can get to know your target audience is what what I've observed is where they spend their time and where they spend their money on. It sounds a little creepy, but it's not it's really not. Okay. So when you look at where your youth spend most of their time and most of their money, you will see what they value. Right. Time and money are kind of precious and something that they value. Right. So when you know what they value, it will enable you to see what owns their heart. You're trying to identify your audience. It goes much more deeper than, okay, he's a Christian. She's not a Christian. He's new believer. He's not a new believer. Identifying your target audience goes beyond that from the surface level. It kind of begins there, but you go deeper to know them. Right. To to really know what they are after what what's happening in their life. You are taking time to understand them. Right. So where they spend their time, their money. I mean, in the recent times, it is not very difficult for us to know that, you know, the huge percentage of the time is on social media. You know, not there and, you know, other things as well, but social media to the huge point. Time spent on editing reels. Yeah, it's I have. Yeah. Okay. Let's not go there. But I'm spent the money. I mean, because I interact a lot with the boys, they are from what I've learned, they are huge into this thing called, you know, sneakers, not the chocolate sneakers. It's the shoes. And if you heard of them, right? Or am I the only one? And I didn't know how expensive they were. They are they are very expensive. Okay, they're like ridiculously expensive and not just expensive. They're like, boys, what are you doing? Right. But it gives me an idea of, you know, what they're after, like where they spend their time, their money and also it doesn't stop there in getting to know them. But it's also very important from the kind of family, what makes up their family as well. It's very important because I mean, are they coming from a broken family? Are they coming from, you know, like a single parent house or etc. etc. Right. I'm just getting to know their family because now you're not just engaging with them, but you are also engaging with their parents. And I believe that being in Children's Ministry goes without saying but then, you know, teens slash youth ministry. Your relationship should really not stop with the youth. If it is possible for you to engage with the parents or the parent of the youth, it's it will be very helpful for the growth of your ministry. Right. And so all of that said, and I hope you're still alive and you're following, you know, what's going on. All of that boils down to this point saying to their relationship with the church. All of this, you know, effort and time that you are taking as a pastor or as a leader to know your audience is simply to understand their relationship or the relationship they have with the church if they have a relationship at all with the church. Because the youth in your community have a relationship with the church. What kind of relationship is good, strong, weak is what we're going to learn. Okay. Because it just might not be, you know, the church or your church. It might not be a strong one to sort of know the relationship you need to look at the other churches as well. And so if you look at the PDF that I've shared, this is like a general, you know, like a concentric circles where people have described or have tried to define where a certain committed audience is. In, you know, in this circle. So at the very core at the center, you have people who are who are core to a movement to a leadership team or to a ministry. Right. And then there are those who are committed and then there are, you know, as the circle goes gets bigger and bigger, the commitment of the audience of the people in that, you know, circle gets less. Okay. So as the audience, you know, keep getting out and out and out, their commitment levels are decreased. Okay. So this is the generic, like a diagram of in how audience are perceived, but it was a little different at APC. Right. And so I have taken the liberty to kind of redefine for our own understanding. So this is in the context of APC in the next page you would see. And so again, I would encourage you to, you know, make this your own. It doesn't everything that you're learning here doesn't have to be applied directly because like I said, it would be the same age group and whatnot, but then the culture would be different. The context will be different. And so take that and make it your own. So at APC, the crowd and congregation people are who are they, you know, how my way of identifying them are in the outer circle. They attend the church. They may or may not have given their lives to Jesus. Okay. So they attend church. One, because they'd be forced by their parents or their friends brought them whatever could be the reason, but they are in the outer circle, outer courts and the outer courts of the outer courts. And they are, they could be shy and introvert. So because of which what happens is they don't engage with anybody else in the church. They're very quiet. They sit in, they sit in the same spot every Sunday because it's the closest to the exit. And so even before pastor has begun the benediction escape, right, they're out before, you know, they're gone. Right. So these are the kind of people who I would put into the category of a crowd and congregation. And then there are those who would categorize as part of the community is the attend church. They are committed to growing spiritually. That means they are, they are plugged into a small group or a, or a life group or a cell group, as we can call it. They volunteer in different ministries. Right. They, they, they come and help in different areas of the church, but they are not necessarily proactive. Right. But they're definitely interested in growing. These are all the kind of people you will come across, right? They attend the church. They are committed to growing spiritually. You know, they want to be part of the cell group. They want to be discipled. They want to serve, etc. But they are not necessarily proactive. What is proactive? What's the opposite of proactive? Reactive. Okay. They are okay. If you tell them what to do, they will do it. It's, it doesn't, it not necessarily always occurs to them saying, okay, you know, there's a need there. Okay, this is what needs to be done. That's what needs to be done. This is what has to be done, etc. No, but they are not necessarily proactive, but they are very much available and they are very much interested in growing. And so as a pastor, as a leader, it is very important for you to identify these kinds of people as well. And then there's the core, right? They attend the church. They are like, you know, full on their proactive. They are committed to doing ministry with whatever it is, you know, they are willing to serve 10 times a week available. You want to send them, they're willing to go. No questions asked, etc. So then there are these kinds of people. So you notice that each group size will decrease as commitment increases. Okay, the size of each group as it decreases, the commitment increases. So as you become part of the core team, that means there's more responsibility. There's more commitment. And as, you know, as a circle or a group becomes bigger, the commitment decreases, right? What commitment does a member in the crowd or the congregation have? They don't really have any commitment except for them to come to church and that they're committed to the church. That's it. Besides that, you know, they are not committed to a life group or a cell group. They are not committed to any volunteering group teams, etc. They don't want to spiritually grow. They don't have any major commitments. And so less stress, right? So the circle of commitment reminds us of our potential audience. The circles of commitment, it reminds us of our potential audience. So our goal as a leader is to constantly thinking, okay, you know, you know, Zealotoli and Divya and Linden, they are part of this crowd circle. They are in the outer courts. As a leader, what can I do? What program can I plan that can bring them in slowly, right? That's the goal is how can you bring the members out there, you know, who just want to come and go to the core? And not everybody necessarily have to be part of the core team. That's not what I mean by that. But they feel belong that they are very proactive. They are spiritually growing and they want to take other young people under their wings to walk with them and disciple with them under your leadership, etc. Okay, and I have added some more points in how we can help and, you know, make this happen. So you can take this and apply that or imply that in your journey as a pastor or as a leader. Okay, so that's just a simple topic on chapter three, identifying your audience, the importance of it. What happens when you don't have, when you don't identify your audience is that your, the numbers will be there. But there will be lack of engagement and ineffective ministry. They won't be much progress or growth. Okay, any thoughts, guys? Did this make sense? Sure, it does. Okay, all right. Thanks, Collins. Great. Okay. So what we'll do, we'll pause here. We'll come back after the break and we'll resume to the next chapter. Okay, thank you.